The La Liga strike planned for the first two weekends of the season is set to go ahead after the two sides involved in the dispute – the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) and the Spanish League (LFP) – failed to reach agreement at a meeting in Madrid on Wednesday morning.
It now seems almost certain there will be no football this weekend although there will be a further meeting on Friday, possibly in Valencia, when negotiations will continue. However, the objective in two days time appears to be not whether the strike will be called off but rather when the postponed games will be played. There are two options: to put back the start of La Liga one week or to play the second round of fixtures (if agreement can be reached so they go ahead) and fit in the opening day games later in the season.
Luis Rubiales, AFE President, was absent in Madrid but the meeting only served to heighten the tension between the factions, with matters reaching such a point that matters have gone beyond the simple threat of a strike and things are now set for direct confrontation.
The AFE gave notification of the proposed strike last Friday but relationships are so strained that LFP President, Jos
